My name is Adam Carlin, and I am a lifelong, card-carrying admirer and fan of all things Santa Clara Vanguard. I am now so honored and privileged to be one of the people to make a difference for Santa Clara and the amazing young adults who show up with their raw talent, tenacity, dedication, and a dream. And for those people that have the capacity and the ability to make a difference in other people’s lives through philanthropy and through getting involved, I can think of no better organization than Santa Clara.

The why I give is the question I often ask myself. I often ask myself about each different initiative or charity. And in this activity, the why I give is because this is the future. These are our future young people that are going to go out into the community to make a difference, to care about those around them, to focus on how do you get to excellence? How do you, as a team, perfect something? Not just yourself. How do you work with others? How do you take a tough night of performance that wasn’t what you wanted it to be and get up the next morning, instead of feeling bad for yourself, focusing on how do you make better what you didn’t feel the night before, perhaps at a competition, you hit. And realizing that you can fix it, that you can improve, that you can make a difference to those people around you. That you don’t want to let the people down around you. That what you’re doing every single day is not only a reflection on yourself but a reflection on those right around you. And the outcome of your hard work is dependent upon not only your performance or your perfection in something, but also those around you. 

It’s an amazing organization with amazing people all around this organization that are here to make a difference. And I’m really so thrilled to be able to just make a difference myself and contribute to the magic that for so many years Santa Clara Vanguard has provided everybody that cares about music, and everybody that cares about young people that are going to be part of this nation’s and our country’s future.

-Adam Carlin